1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to securing data obtained from a device where the device is shared among multiple applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current multifunction purpose (MFP) devices include the ability for a user to provide data to the MFP via external interfaces such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device connected to a USB port on the MFP. For example, a USB smart card reader can be connected to an MFP for authenticating a user using a smart card to enable the user to use the MFP. Or, a USB card reader can be used to obtain a user's credit card information to pay for a print or copy job performed on the MFP. Finally, a USB keyboard could be used to enter user login credentials to the MFP.
In the above-described scenarios, in order to effectively use a USB device connected to an MFP, typically, the USB device is shared among multiple applications running on the MFP. In this scenario, any data that is provided via the USB device, e.g., authentication information, credit card information, etc., can be seen by any application sharing the USB device. For example, if a user swipes a credit card via a USB card reader as payment for a copy job, the credit card information read by the card reader is not only made available to the application that requires the credit card information to complete the transaction, but will also be made available to an application that does not require the credit card information. Thus, sensitive information is distributed to random applications, resulting in a security risk.
Given the above-described scenario of sensitive information being made available to any application that can see it, regardless of whether there is a need for the application to see the data, there is a need for protecting data obtained via an external device from being obtained by unintended applications.